In the Gospel of Matthew chapter
22 and verse 14, it tells us that many are called, but few
are chosen. Many are called, but few are
chosen. And in John 10 and verse 3 it
says, To him the porter openeth, and the sheep hear his voice,
and he calleth his own sheep by name, and he leads them out. There is a personal and particular
irresistible and irreversible call of the grace of God which
goes out from the Spirit of God to God's elect in this world,
calling them unto eternal life, unto eternal salvation. Now this
call of the Spirit of God always produces faith in the heart of
the one called in the Lord Jesus Christ. It always brings that
individual trembling to the feet of the Lord Jesus Christ. I'm
talking about the work of the divine Spirit of God in the heart
of those that God has purposed to save, those for whom the Lord
Jesus laid down His life. Now, it always results in the
salvation of the one who is called. In 1 Thessalonians chapter 2,
the brother read it this morning to us. And in verse 13, I want
to read this verse to you. 1 Thessalonians chapter 2 and
verse 13 tells us these things. No, he didn't read this verse.
I'm sorry Randy. I was thinking about the 2nd
chapter. But verse 13 of 1 Thessalonians chapter 2 says, For this cause
also, think we God without ceasing, Because when ye received the
Word of God, which ye heard of us, ye received it not as the
Word of men, but as it is in truth, the Word of God, which
affectually worketh also in you that believe." And so what Paul
is saying here, that these ones that had received the Word of
God, which they had heard from a man, they had heard from Paul,
the instrument, of salvation toward their lives. He said,
you received it not as the word that came from me, but you received
it in truth as the word of God. And that this word affectually
worketh also in you that believe. And so the word of God works
affectually in those that are called in order that they might
be brought out savingly unto the Lord Jesus Christ. Were it
not for this effectual working of the Spirit of God and the
Word of God in the heart, no one would ever be saved. Nobody
can be saved apart from this divine work. God must do the
work. God must undertake in the heart
of the sinner. No one will ever come out of
the inevitable calamity from which they are in by nature unless
they are extricated from it by the mercy and sovereign grace
and love of our God. And John 6, 44 and 45 says, No
man can come to me except the Father which hath sent me draw
him, and I will raise him up at the last day. And in verse
45 it says, it is written in the prophets, and they shall
all be taught of God. That is, every one of the children
of the covenant, that is, all of those who were loved by the
Father and who belonged to the Father in old eternity, they
were given to Christ They shall all be taught of God. Every man
therefore that hath heard and hath learned of the Father, Jesus
says, they come to me. They come to me. Have you come
to Christ? Well, if you have, you know that
the Father has intervened in your life. He's undertaken for
you. He sent the Divine Spirit and
accompanied the Word and it worked effectually in your life and
brought you out of sin's death into the life and liberty of
the Gospel. And so you know that the Lord has effected your life
if this morning you are a believer and if you are coming, coming,
ever coming, daily coming, hourly coming to the Lord Jesus Christ
in your heart. looking to Him for all that is
necessary for your salvation and for your daily keeping. If
you're looking to the Lord, if you're trusting in the Lord,
believing Him, then, my friend, you know that God has affected
your life. It's the work of the Lord. Every
movement in the heart of the child of God, even from the first
movement to the last perseverance, we know is of God in all its
parts. It's of the Lord. The Lord had
to bring it to pass or else we'd still be in our sin. We would
still be lost and undone today. But when our Lord says many are
called, He's speaking of that message of the gospel as it goes
out. and is proclaimed by His servants. And every time a true servant
of God preaches the gospel of God's grace, the gospel of redeeming
mercy, and the mercy of God to save sinners in the Lord Jesus
Christ, many are called. Many are called, many are touched
by, many are affected by. When they hear the message of
the old rugged cross, when they hear about how the Lord Jesus
Christ hung between heaven and earth on that gory tree, when
they hear about how he poured out his life's blood for the
salvation of sinners, often many, many are affected, many, many
are touched, but not many are saved. Not many belong or have
come to belong to the Lord Jesus Christ. In 2 Corinthians 5 and
verse 20, it says, now then, we are ambassadors for Christ. That is, those who have been
called of God, those that are His servants, those who the message
of salvation has been laid upon to preach. He says, we are ambassadors
for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us. We pray you
in Christ's stead, be reconciled to God. Now this call, then,
is universal in its scope. God has a call. Many are called. And often in the lifetime of
a sinner, he is often affected by what he hears or by what someone
says to him or what somebody gives to him to read. He's often
affected by it. Many are called indeed. But the divine providence of
God limits this call to those who are privileged to hear the
gospel. Now, we recognize that the gospel
is not preached everywhere. We know that there are many,
many people in this world this morning, not only those who are
in heathen countries, but many of them who are in this United
States of America are not blessed to be somewhere where the gospel
of the redeeming grace of God is proclaimed and preached from
Lord's Day to Lord's Day. No, there are many, many places
where there is a famine of the Word of God in the land, and
the gospel is not being preached. And so the universal message
of the gospel is limited even to those who are in that place
where they can hear the message of the gospel. You're blessed
this morning if you have a place where you can go and hear the
gospel. regardless of how uncouth the
preacher is or how stuttering is his message, if you can go
and hear the plain gospel of redeeming grace, telling you
how God saves the sinner, telling you how God reconciles men and
women unto Himself, telling you how that the Lord Jesus Christ,
God's only begotten Son, how He hung on a cross in order to
redeem your soul, then, my friend, you're blessed. You're blessed
indeed, and may the Lord show you that, because there's many
that don't have that blessing. But we preach the gospel here
in this place indiscriminately to all who come in the door.
We invite all to come to Christ and be saved. Many are called. Now this gospel call is an unconditional
invitation for men and women to come and to be at peace with
the Lord. For them to come and to be reconciled
to God. To come and to be joined with
the Lord as one spirit. Isaiah 55 and 1 says, O every
one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters. And he that hath
no money, come ye. Buy ye meat, yea, come. Buy wine
and milk without money and without price. Now the gospel preacher
is God's ambassador sent to spell out to sinners terms of peace. And the Bible says repent and
believe the gospel. That's a message to all lost
sinners. Repent and believe the gospel. Come unto me all ye that labor
and are heavy laden and I will give you rest, saith the Lord
Jesus. God has commanded all men everywhere
to repent. God has commanded that men turn
from their wicked ways, repent, believe the gospel, be baptized. He that believeth shall be saved,
he that believeth not shall be damned. The Bible is plain on
it. Now He calls upon men by divine
authority to be reconciled to God. They're God's enemies by
nature. They come in, they hear us. We
tell them there's peace been made through the blood of the
cross. We tell them that Christ has died in order that sinners
could be reconciled unto Him. We tell them that. But now this
comes by divine authority. Be you reconciled to God. Revelation
22 and 17 says, And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And
let him that is a thirst, and let him say, Come. And whosoever
will, let him come, and let him take the water of life freely.
Let him come and take the water of life freely. Many are called. Many are called. What's keeping
you from coming and taking the water of life freely? The church
says, Come. The Spirit says, Come. The man
who hears says, Come. Those of you that are a thirst,
do you have a thirst in your soul for the things of God? Come
to the Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord Jesus is that one who
can satisfy, who can slake the thirst of your soul. Come to
Him. And so that's the invitation.
Any sinner that obeys this call and obeys the gospel of the Lord
Jesus Christ, he shall be saved. He shall be saved. Can you do
it? Can you do it? Many are called. Many are called. Can you come
to the Lord Jesus Christ? If you can, you can be saved. You can be saved. The Bible says
in Romans 10, whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord
shall be saved. Whosoever shall call. Just call
on the name of the Lord. Keep calling on the name of the
Lord and you shall be saved. Now those who refuse to obey
the gospel call, they'll be damned without excuse. They'll perish. They'll perish and that forever.
doomed everlastingly to suffer in the lake of fire. However,
because man is spiritually dead, John Calvin said, he has neither
the will nor the ability nor the inclination in himself to
obey this general call of the gospel. He has not the will in
himself. His will is in bondage to his
own nature and he will not come that he might have life under
the Lord Jesus Christ. Many are called, Jesus said,
but few are chosen. Now note the preaching of the
gospel will never produce faith in Christ until the sinner, until
the sinner is made alive, until he experiences the effectual,
irresistible call and power of the grace of the Holy Spirit. This sinner He is helpless to
believe. He's helpless to come. He ought
to come. He must come. He must come or
be damned. But he will not come until the
Spirit of God makes him alive. Until he's regenerated. Until
he comes to that place where he has enough life in his soul
to know his spiritual death. And when that happens, then that
sinner can come. All reject the gospel call as
it comes forth from men. You just hear my voice this morning,
you'll reject the call if that's all you hear. You just hear an
old preacher getting up there and he's talking about things,
don't know whether he understands them or not. I certainly don't,
but nevertheless, I'm not going to respond to what he has to
say. But my friend, you must hear
another voice. The voice of the preacher is not enough. You must
hear from God in the Word. There must be a voice in the
Scripture that awakens your dead heart and causes you to respond
to the invitation. But none reject that call when
it comes forth in the power of the Holy Spirit. When the Spirit
of God drops down from heaven, thanks being to God, the Holy
Spirit does come down. And thanks be unto God, the world
can't receive Him, but those who are the elect of God can
receive Him. God enables them to. God makes
them alive by His Spirit. And that Spirit comes in to indwell
them and to keep them in this life. But they're able to respond. Well, why is it that many hear
the gospel and perish? Why is it? While others hear
the same gospel from the lips of the same preacher and they're
saved. Well, the answer is very plain.
Many are called, but few are chosen. And those few who are
chosen, having been redeemed by Christ and in the time of
His love, at God's appointed time are called, they're called
out by this effectual, irresistible power of God, the Holy Spirit.
Thank God He has chosen some, and they shall be saved. Am I
in the right church? Am I in the right church? Thanks
be unto God that He's chosen some to be saved. I praise his
name, that he has not forgotten the mercy mission of the Lord
Jesus Christ. But in our day and time, wasn't
satisfied to save just some out of the last generation, he saved
some out of the people of our day. He's calling the people
for his name. Do we believe in the supernatural
power of God, the Holy Spirit, to quicken dead sinners and to
bring them to himself? I do. Hallelujah, I do. Now,
beloved, we will make haste to say that there's none ever saved
by the general call. None ever saved by the general
call. Now, get that straight. I want
you to understand that. Nobody's going to be saved by
the general, universal call of the gospel. It's kind of like
a fellow staying downstairs and hollering up the stairway at
his son who is sleeping in bed in the morning and he calls and
he calls and he calls and the boy may answer one or two times
but he'll not get up, he'll not get up and come downstairs. That's
the general call. And after a while the father
takes a half-gallon bucket of cold ice water and he goes upstairs
and pulls the cover back and throws the bucket of water on
his son and his son comes up out of the bed. That's the effectual
call of God. That's what it is. That's the
illustrator. God's got to get men and women's
attention, and he will get their attention, but none are saved
by the general call. Do you want an example of that
in the Holy Scriptures? Turn with me to the book of Acts,
chapter 26. The book of Acts, chapter 26,
where we read here the apostle Paul has been preaching to Festus
and King Agrippa, and he says to him, In verse 27 he says,
King Agrippa, this is the Apostle Paul preaching, King Agrippa,
believest thou the prophets? I know that thou believest. Paul
said, I know at least that you've got a head knowledge and a head
faith in the prophets. I know that you've heard about
these things and I know that you have grasped them mentally
at least. Then Agrippa said unto Paul,
almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian. Almost, Paul,
you persuade me to be a Christian. Almost. Almost. Almost. But woe be unto him, he was not
persuaded because he was not persuaded in the Spirit of God.
Nothing wrong with the instrument that God was using to preach
to him. Couldn't find fault with Paul. You couldn't say, well,
Paul, you just didn't preach a good enough sermon. If you'd
preached a better sermon, why, then old Agrippa would have believed. No, he just said, Paul, almost
you persuade me. I'm not persuaded. I'm not persuaded. Well, almost persuaded, my friend,
you'll be doomed at last. Almost is not enough. Harvest
is over, and the summer is over, and you're not saved. and almost
won't get the job done. You've got to be persuaded internally
and that by the power of the Holy Ghost. Almost is not enough. Now the difference between those
who believe and those who believe not is the eternal purpose and
choice of God's electing love. You mark it down. Again, for
an example, turn with me to Acts chapter 22. Acts chapter 22. And look at one of Mike's favorite
verses, verse 14. Acts 22 and verse 14. Now here's
the testimony of the Word of God concerning the Apostle Paul
himself. And in verse 14, we see where
Ananias was speaking. He had come and he was speaking
with Paul, or Saul, who had been struck down on the road to Damascus.
And he came and stood and said to me, Brother Saul, in verse
13, received thy sight in the same hour, looked upon him. God
opened my eyes and I looked upon him, the blindness was gone,
and he said, this is what he said to me, the God of our fathers
hath chosen thee, that thou shouldest know his will and see that just
one, and shouldest hear the voice of his mouth, for thou shalt
be his witness unto all men of what thou hast seen and heard.
And he said, why tarryest thou? Rise and be baptized, and wash
away thy sins, calling on the name of the Lord. And so here
we see the example of the effectual call. Old Saul of Tarsus has
been struck down on the road to Damascus. Saul of Tarsus has
been brought into this place where the servant of God will
come to him, speak to him, and the servant of God reveals to
him that the purpose of all of this is that God had chosen him. That God had chosen him. Now
that word chosen, all of you know that that word is election.
It's election. And there are some men and women
in this world whom God has chosen to save, like old Saul here of
Tarsus. And the rest are left in their
sins to perish in their willful unbelief. in their willful unbelief. They're left in their sin to
perish in their willful unbelief. Now, God has done no injustice
to them. He does not violate their will.
He does not force them to do what they choose not to do. He
simply leaves them to themselves. And you can be sure of this,
if God leaves a man to himself, and if God leaves a man to his
so-called boasted free will, that man will never believe in
Christ, and he never will be saved. A man will be saved if
he's been given to Christ. He will come to Christ. John
6 and 37. And John chapter 10 says a man
believes if he's a sheep, and if he believes not, it's because
he's not one of the Lord's sheep. Now the Lord has not left us
to ourselves. Praise be unto God. If we're
saved today, he's not left us to ourselves. He could have passed
us by. He could have said, just stay right there where you are.
And you'd have been satisfied to stay there. That's the problem.
That's the problem. You'd have been glad if the Lord
just left you alone. Just leave me alone. And some
of you, and I've known of people who said that. Lord, just leave
me alone. Just leave me alone. And the
Lord leaves people alone. What a tragedy. What a tragedy. The best thing on earth that
can happen to any one of you is that God would cross your
path, would not leave you alone, but would dog your trail until
you are regenerated by the Spirit of God and until you can say,
yes, in your heart, I choose Christ because He has first chosen
and loved me. That would be the greatest blessing
that could possibly happen in your life. Beloved, there is
yet a remnant according to the election of grace. Hallelujah,
there is. There's yet a remnant according
to the election of grace. God has chosen to save some.
There is an elect people in this world, a people whom God has
predestinated to eternal life, a people that He's determined
to have, a people that He's determined will be in his company and fellowship
for all eternity. A people that he wants to be
a bride for his son, the Lord Jesus Christ. A people whom he
says, I'll be their God and they shall be my people. Now you say,
I have a difficult time with this preacher, this business
of many being called and them never affectionately being called.
And there are few that are going to be saved and they always are
affectionately called. I have a little trouble with
that as I think about the scriptures. Now in Luke chapter 13 and 23,
our Lord was asked, are there few that be saved? And he answered
and said, Strive to enter in at the straight gate. For many,
I say unto you, will seek to enter in and shall not be able. He said, Strive to enter in at
the straight gate. Straight is the gate that leads
to life. Broad is the way that leads to destruction. Many there
be that enter into that road, but straight is the gate. He
said, There are few that find it. There are few that enter
in. Now sometimes people poke fun
at those of us who preach the doctrines of divine election,
saying you folks believe that there's only just a select few
that will be saved. You believe that there's only
a few people going to be saved. Well, in a way you might say
that's exactly what we believe because that's exactly what the
Lord Jesus Christ said Himself. Our Lord Jesus Christ said plainly
in our text, many are called, but few are chosen. These are the words, as we said,
of the Christ Himself. This settles the question as
far as I'm concerned, and I know that in the end, God's elect
will be a multitude which no man can number, ten thousand
times, ten thousand and thousands of thousands. And who can tell
how many elect infants that God has mercifully taken to glory
in His acts of judgment upon their ungodly parents in this
world and this ungodly world? Who can say how many is going
to be over in glory in the by and by? Who can say? Only God
knows the number. Only God knows the number of
those that will inhabit heaven's shores. But thanks be to God,
there will be a great host There will be a great number when they're
all finally gathered together in the church of the firstborn.
Yet at any one time, God's elect in this world are very few when
compared with the multitudes who are on the broadway who are
perishing in their sins. Now in the days of Noah, only
Noah and his family found grace in the eyes of the Lord. Think
about that. Think of it. Think of it. Think of that host.
Have you ever sat down and meditated on it? That great host of people. And they claim that the world
was occupied with as many people then as what it is now. I don't
know anything about that. I'm not smart enough to know.
But I will tell you this. Only Noah and his family found
grace in the eyes of the Lord. Now you explain that. You explain
that. Well, that was because God had
chosen Noah and his family. Think of it, Lot was the only
person in Sodom whom God went after. Only person we know that
he brought out his two daughters and his wife We know her heart
was still back there And she turned around was turned into
a pillar of salt and we know something about the history or
their lives after that But beloved Sodom in Sodom the only one God
really went after was old lot He was a just man and God went
after him and brought him out of Sodom before he rained fire
and brimstone That's burning sulfur upon that city The Lord
brought him out. He brought him out. Well, isn't
that an amazing thing? That's a wonderful thing. Praise
God, the God of the Lord, God and Father of the Lord Jesus
Christ. God of mercy and a God of wonderful grace. Of all the
multitude who left Egypt, remember this, only Joshua and Caleb entered
into the land of promise. They're the only two that entered
into the land of promise. The rest did what? Perished in
unbelief in the wilderness. You think this principle doesn't
hold true in the Word of God? Then think of this. Among the
850 prophets of Mount Carmel, there's only one prophet. Among
851 of them, one of them knew God. You know who that was? Old
Elijah. That's the only one. All these
prophets, only one of them knew the Lord. Only one of them. Well,
that's a testimony, I think, to the fact many are called,
but few are chosen. When Nehemiah returned to Jerusalem,
he said, I rose in the night. I and some few men with me came
to do the work. Nehemiah 2 and 12. He's going
to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem. He said, I and a few men with
me came to do the work. Wasn't a multitude that followed?
No, no, just a few men. A great multitude was carried
away into Babylon. But when they came to Jeremiah
in repentance, they said, We're left but a few among many, Jeremiah
42 and 2. As thine eyes do behold us, we're
just a few of many left. So you see how God works. You
see how He works. Many are called, few are chosen. At the last time of that age
of the church, depicted by Sardis in the book of Revelation, chapter
3 and verse 4, there's only a few names, it says, found among the
faithful. Now this is plainly than the
teaching of the Holy Spirit. Among the multitudes who wear
the name of Christ and profess to be his followers in this world
today, there's only a few who really know Him and are saved. And about just every once in
a while, every once in a while we hear about somebody who had
made a perfection somewhere along the line and finally, by the
mercy and grace of God, they get saved. They do. They come to know the
Lord after they made a perfection years ago. I don't know how many
people I've met in my lifetime that they said, yep, we got saved
way back. But their lives, I mean they've
lived like hell ever since they made a profession of faith and
they don't know the Lord. They go right on living in their
sin and their rebellion against God. They don't know a thing
on earth about the Lordship of Jesus Christ. They just not saved
people, but they made a profession. A lot of people made a decision
and it's going right on to hell. But only when you're regenerated,
only when you're alive, only when you really know God in your
heart, in your soul, Then and then alone are you saved. The
rest are perishing under the delusion of a false hope. Hear
the word of the Lord and be warned. Many shall say to me in that
day, did we not do this? Did we not do that? Did we not
do something else? They're all workers of iniquity.
And Jesus said, I'll say unto them, depart from me. I never
knew you. Religious is all get out, but
lost. Don't know the Lord. Are you
among the many this morning who are perishing? were among the
few who were chosen. The few who trust Christ alone
for eternal salvation, they're those that can say amen and praise
the Lord to God's mercy and grace, which is found in His electing
love and His glorious free grace salvation. Well, in the book
of 2 Peter 1 and verse 10, it says, Wherefore, the rather brethren
give diligence to make your calling and election sure. And I admonish
you this morning with the Apostle Peter to give diligence to make
your calling and your election sure. Has Christ been revealed
in you? Has He been made known? Do you know the Son of God? Truly,
do you know Him? Do you know Him in your heart?
Do you truly trust Christ alone as your Savior? Is Jesus Christ
your Lord? Is He your Master? If you will
be honest, you can know whether or not you are among the few
who God has chosen. You can know. whether or not
there's anything working in your soul or not, whether or not God
is there, whether you truly know Him. You can know your election.
Paul told the Thessalonians plainly that he knew they were God's
elect. And he told them that for five
reasons. If you'll turn to 1 Thessalonians
1, from verses 4 to 10, you can find those five reasons why Paul
would tell these people, he told them, that he knew, in verse
4, knowing, brethren, beloved, your election of God. He said,
I know your election of God. I know it. How did you know it,
Paul? Well, there are identifying marks
of God's elect. And the first one he gives us
in verse 5. It says in verse 5, for our gospel
came not unto you in word only, but also in power and in the
Holy Ghost, and in much assurance, as you know what manner of men
we were among you for your sake. God's elect hear and receive
the gospel in the power of the Holy Spirit. Being taught of
God, they hear the gospel and they say when they hear it, this
is it. This is it. This is it. I know
this is it. This is the message of love and
grace. This is the message that I need
to hear. This is what I'm looking for.
My soul is thirsty and panting after the Lord, even as a heart
panteth after the water broke. And this is it. This is that
water, that living water that will slake my thirst. This is
it. My spiritual thirst. This is
it. They hear the gospel and they're assured. They receive
it with assurance. This is a message from God to
me. This is my salvation. My salvation
is wrapped up in this message that God loved me from the foundation
of the world, gave me to Christ. Christ died in my place, my room
instead in place. God raised him from the dead,
seated him at his right hand, seated me in him, and he's there
making intercession for me, praying for me all the time. Praying
for me that I'll be kept. that I'll be able to make this
journey. I'll be able to make it. I'll
be able to get through that journey. Well, it's wonderful to be able
to hear the gospel in the power of the Holy Spirit. To hear it
when it comes directly from God to your heart. Make any difference
who the man preaching is. Have you heard the message from
the Lord? Has he spoken to your heart?
Well, this is the first mark of one of God's elect. One of
God's chosen. They've heard from the Lord.
They've heard a word from God. They just didn't have Jesus weashed
off on them. They didn't have daddy and mama
say, now son, you're five years old now. Now you've got to believe.
You've got to believe. Oh, you surely believe this.
Oh, surely you're a sinner and this and that and something else.
And you agree with this proposition, surely. And you'll be saying,
well, no, my friend. We've got to hear from God. Where
is God in all of that? Salvation to the Lord, it's His
work from the beginning to the end. Where is the Lord in all
of that? So God's elect must hear and
receive the gospel and the power of the Holy Spirit. Number two,
God's elect follow Christ. Notice in verse six, and ye became
followers of us and of the Lord, having received the word in much
affliction with joy of the Holy Ghost. You know, you just meet
all kinds of people, who made a profession, but then they did
not follow the Lord in baptism. They would not submit to water
baptism. They would not follow the Lord. They would not testify
of knowing Christ. They would not confess His name
among men. They would not do it. But Paul
said, you became followers of us and of the Lord. You followed
us in our example and in our message and Also, but most of
all chiefly the Lord you follow the Lord now That's one of the
mark of God's elect those who who are truly born of God They
they believe God and they become followers of God They serve God
and they walk in his ways. They bow to his lordship they
submit themselves to him daily in their lives and And where
they used to say, I don't want any part of that, now they're
saying, they bow to the Lord, and when they bow, they say,
is that, am I bowed enough, Lord? Is it enough? Am I submitted
enough to you, Lord? Those who are truly saved are
submissive to God, to Christ. They walk in His ways. And that's
one of the ways you can know whether you're truly the Lord's
or not. So they serve God with patience and love and walk before
him in the joy of faith like their master, the people of God
persevere in the hour of trial because it goes on to say that
they receive the word in much affliction, in much affliction
with joy of the Holy Ghost. You know, we'd like for things
to be real smooth for those who just recently received the Lord
and those who have been saved as of late. I'm thinking now
of one individual and all the trial that's already been heaped
upon him. Trial after trial has been heaped
upon him. And you say, well, you know,
we'd like for it to be a little smoother for that brother, that
sister in the Lord. We'd like for it to be smoother
so they'd be more encouraged. But no, you know, the Lord saves
a person and immediately his whole world is turned around.
The people that did understand him, thought they did, now they
don't understand him. They don't know anything about
him. They don't even know the fella. He's a different man now.
He's a new creature in Christ Jesus and people like him religious,
but they don't like him saved. Can you imagine such a thing?
My soul. That's exactly what we find in
this world. But God's people receive the
word in much affliction. Affliction and trouble. In this
world you'll have tribulation, but be of good cheer. Jesus said,
I've overcome the world. Okay, so even in affliction,
these people are joyous. It says that with joy the Holy
Ghost, you know, the Bible says that the kingdom of God is not
meat and drink, but it's righteousness and what? Joy and peace in the
Holy Ghost. That's what it is. joy and peace
in the Holy Spirit. That's what the kingdom of God
in the soul of a man is. Now, number three, God's elect
are committed to Christ. In verse eight, look at it. For
from you sounded out the word of the Lord, not only in Macedonia
and Achaia, but also in every place your faith to Godward is
spread abroad so that we need not to speak anything. We see
that they're committed to the gospel committed to Christ, to
the spread of the gospel of His grace. And I want to tell you
this, that none can sound out the word like those who know
their election of God. You get a man who knows. He knows
that he's saved. He knows that God has put away
his sin, pardoned his sin. He knows where he stands with
the living God. He knows it. It won't be very
long before he'll be talking about what the Lord's done for
him. It won't be too long before he'll
want to have a part in the spread of the gospel and the message
of grace. He'll want to have a part in
it. He'll want to be a part of it. He wants to talk about it. He wants to be used of the Lord
to spread that word that brought deliverance to his own soul.
He wants to be used of God to do that. He wants to have a part.
He wants to be involved with the church. where that message
of the grace of God is being preached and sent out to men,
to sinners. Number four, God's elect repent
of their sins and turn to God with a true heart. Verse nine,
look at it. Verse nine, for they themselves
show of us what manner of entering in we had unto you and how you
turned to God from idols to serve the living and the true God.
Now this is complete salvation. They turned to God from idols.
You know, there's a whole lot of people that are professing
believers, their lives are full of idols. That's right. Their lives are full of idols.
Now, God said, you don't have any other God before me. But
their lives are full of idols. They're as covetous as they can
be. Covetousness is idolatry. I'm telling you one of the mark
of God's elect is that when they turn to the Lord, they turn to
God with a true heart. They all have, they, they, well,
it's like John said. He said, little children, turn
from your idols. Turn from them. Have anything
to do with your idols anymore. Turn from them. You love the
things of this world? Turn from those things. Love
not the world, neither the things that are in the world. The love
of the flesh, lust of the eye, and pride of life, they're all
the world. He said, you turn from those things. Turn from
those things. So these people turned to God
with a true heart. You still trying to hang on to
the world and the things of the world and professing at the same
time to be a Christian? God have mercy on you. God have
mercy on you. Somebody said, well, I just thought
the Lord wanted a tenth. Well, that might satisfy you
and it might satisfy other people, but according to the message
of the Word of God, the Bible teaches that when a man gets
saved, that the Lord owns him. He owns him and everything he's
got. That's what the Bible says. The Bible says you are not your
own. What does that mean? You're not
your own. That means that you don't own yourself anymore, that
God owns you. That you belong to him. You say,
well, I wouldn't have gotten involved in this thing if I knew
that that was going to involve all of that. Well, my friend,
that's what it involves. It involves you being owned by
God, lock, stock, and barrel. You say, well, I'd like to serve
the Lord, but I didn't realize it was going to involve everything.
Well, it's going to involve it all. If there's anything standing
between you and a holy God, God's going to cross your path with
it, and you're going to bow to Him in the matter, or else you
take the thing, if you're His child, out of your life, or else
you're one of those that are the many. That's just simply
heard the general call. Well, now this is one of the
marks of God's elect. They turn to God with a true
heart. True heart. Get rid of their idols. Number
five, God's elect to live in this world as men and women,
expecting and hoping and waiting for the coming of the Lord Jesus
Christ. Look at verse 10. And to wait for His Son from
heaven, whom He raised from the dead, even Jesus, which was delivered
from the wrath to come. My friend, are you looking Are
you waiting for the coming of the Lord Jesus? Are you looking
for that? You say, well, no, I'm more interested
right now in getting myself fixed in this life. Well, now, I want
to tell you what, there isn't anything wrong with diligence
and nothing wrong with prudence. There's nothing wrong with a
person, you know, pursuing what must be pursued in order to provide
for his family. Nothing wrong with that. But
I'm going to tell you this, that whenever we get to the place
where that blinds us from looking to the coming of the Lord Jesus
Christ daily in our lives. My friend, we've got that thing,
that thing's in the wrong place. Too much of it in the wrong place.
The coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now beloved, I don't
know about you. You say, well Preacher, I can
see why you would be thinking about the coming of the Lord
Jesus Christ. Well, You probably hit the nail on the head. You probably can figure it out.
I'm looking for the coming of the Lord Jesus. And I'm praying,
even so, come quickly, Lord Jesus. You say, well, ain't that a little
selfish? No, it seems to me to be the attitude of New Testament
Christians. They're looking for the coming
of the Lord Jesus Christ. New Testament saints, and I believe
this can be proven If you just read carefully both 1st and 2nd
Thessalonians, the entire books, you can see that the early church
was looking for him then. I mean they were looking for
him. Now some people had deceived them sometime and tell them,
you know, it's just tomorrow, next day, and I'm not here to
tell you when it is. I don't know when it is! I don't
know when it's going to happen, but I know it is going to happen.
And I know your life will never be what it ought to be until
the spirit of that rips your heart and you look for His coming
and you pray for His coming and you hope for His coming. You
know that that's the answer. That is the answer for your situation
and my situation and the world is the coming of the Son of God. His coming. Hallelujah, how that
would change, how that would change, how that would change
the outlook and the picture, the coming of the Lord Jesus
Christ. I've often said I'm not looking
for a hole in the ground, I'm looking for one in the sky. I
believe Christ is coming back. I may go into a hole in the ground,
and not too far off may do that. However, the Lord Jesus is coming. And when He comes, I'm coming
out of the grave. I'm coming out of the grave.
Now when I die, I'm going to be more alive than I've ever
been before. Remember that. More alive than I've ever been
before! But when Jesus comes, His body's
coming out of the grave. I'm going to have a glorified
body. I'm going to have a glorified body. And I'm going to be able
to shout. So if you indeed are among the
elect, if you're among the few to be saved, our hearts should
be filled then with gratitude, praise, and admiration for the
Lord Jesus, the One coming. The only difference, hear me,
between the many who perish and the few who are chosen is the
difference in which the grace of God is made. It's the only
difference. The only difference. Now, when
you narrow it down, and you can say that, I know the only difference
between me and a friend of mine who just recently, who I just
saw, And we're back in the world drunk, intoxicated with drink
and with the things of this world. It's the grace of God, the only
difference. Now you get in some place. Now
you get into the place where you can glorify the Lord, where
you can honor the Lord. You look at those people, you
won't be critical. You just say, praise be unto God. Praise be
unto God that I wasn't left wallowing in that misery. Praise be unto
God that I wasn't left in that. As for me, I gladly ascribe the
whole of my salvation to God who loved me freely with an everlasting
love and saved me by His grace. And with the Apostle Paul, 1
Corinthians 15 and 10, I can say by the grace of God, I am
what I am. Not everything I ought to be, never have been. Not everything
I'd hoped to be or liked to be, but by the grace of God, I'm
not what I could have been. And I'm not what I am. I'm not
what I would have been if the Lord would have left me to myself.
I'm not. I am what I am by the grace of
God. Chosen by grace, redeemed by grace, called by grace, given
faith to believe by grace. I persevere by grace. I believe the free grace of God
is going to bring me safely home into heaven's eternal glory.
I believe that. Free grace of God. I expect to be kept. I expect
to be kept. You know, I was reading some
words of Brother McShane, Robert Murray McShane, a Scottish preacher
who died very young, and he was telling somebody, he was talking
to them about being kept and about the intercessory work of
the Lord Jesus. And he was telling this individual
that Christ was praying for him. It didn't seem to affect the
individual much. And so, Brother McShane said,
well, can I tell you this? That if the Lord Jesus was in
the next room, in the very next room, and I could hear him praying
for me. He said there wouldn't be anything
in this world that I would fear anymore. He said I would never
dread another hour. He said I never would fear another
hour if I could just hear him pray. But then he said, now wait
a minute. He said, but what's distance
got to do with this thing anyway? And what's me hearing it with
this physical ear got to do with it anyway? The scripture says
He's making intercession for us. He's praying for us. Christ is praying for us. Now if you can believe that,
you're going to be kept, my friend. He is able to keep you from falling,
present you with ecstatic joy before His presence. He's able
to keep you. And He will keep you. If He's
chosen you, He'll keep you. May God bless these words in
your heart. Father, in Jesus' name, we pray thou will receive
the praise, the glory, and the honor for what you have done
in our souls. Thank you, blessed Lord Jesus,
that we can rejoice today and to be glad, knowing that there
are few, there are few that you've saved and that we believe, we
have reason to believe that we're numbered among them. And we give
you glory. We give you praise. Father, bless. We do pray each one that's gathered
here this morning, and we pray that their needs will be met,
and those that are traveling, oh Lord, be with them, and bring
them back safely with us. We beg it in Jesus' name, for
his sake, amen.